Bizarre Love Triangle - V2 chapter 0 Prologue
Prologue : Outside of the literature
“I like you”
Her clear bell-like voice echoes inside the dust covered clubroom.
“I like you, Yano-kun….”
Despite the rainy season, the sun was shining brightly after school.
It was only me and her alone inside the narrow clubroom.
It happened when I was reading the novel I had just bought yesterday. I wasn’t able to understand the meaning of the words she said immediately as I was too absorbed in reading it.
I shift my gaze to the owner of the voice.
She, Minase Akiha, has currently her upper half body sprawled on the desk near the window seat as if dozing off.
With her cheeks on her crossed arm, she was looking at me languidly.
Her hair was short and black, and her cheeks were pale.
In her eyes, a spiral galaxy is submerged into the distant darkness.
The embarrassing whiteness of her summer dress and the smoothness of her arms stretching out from the sleeves dazzled me, and I couldn’t help but squint.
一一一I like you.
Suddenly, the meaning of the word penetrated my dulled brain.
It means that she has romantic feelings for me.
It was the words I had been waiting for.
A reply to my confession of a month ago一ー一
[一一Honestly, I haven’t yet sort out my feelings]
While I was dazed, She continued to spill her words.
“It’s the first time…….I’ve ever felt this way about someone, and I’m not sure what I want out of a relationship, or if it’s really a good idea…….I wanted to think about those things properly.”
She grabbed her elbow tightly and continues,
“But…….I can’t endure anymore. It’s too painful like this. I want to catch it properly.”
Saying so, she gets up, stretches her back and turns to look at me.
Moist eyes, blushing cheeks, trembling lips and then,
[….So, please go out with me.]
With a clear voice, she said to me,
Somewhere along the way, I had thought that such things were a [fairy tale].
The person you love likes you. It becomes a relationship between lovers.
It’s just something that happens in [Story], I never thought it would happen to me, not even a little.
That’s why, my reply now that it turns true is,
“…Y-Yes……..yes”
My voice was shaking, sweat was pouring out of my back, and I was disgustingly distraught.
“T-that….. being told that…..i..I’m really happy!, I too like you…. please take care of me from now on….”
I almost laughed at myself for not being able to turn my tongue.
My voice turned two or even three times higher and some simple words even turned inside out.
However一一一apparently, I wasn’t the only one who had lost his composure.
“Yeah….. please take care of me…….ahhhh”
Leaking out such a voice in the end, Akiha once again sprawled on the desk.
“N-no! That’s not what I mean!”
“Eh….umm…. What’s the matter? Are you sick?”
With her face buried in her arms, Akiha shook her head.
“D-don’t look at me too much…..I probably have a very strange face now….”
“…….. strange..face?”
“I-i don’t know…….geez, I just feel overwhelmed…..I’m probably making a weird face right now.”
一一一I was kind of relieved by that line.
I knew that I wasn’t the only one who was nervous.
“………ahahaha”
“……why are you laughing?”
“No, I just feel it’s kind of funny……”
“……..face?”
“Of course not”
Akiha looks so cute when she looks at with reproachful glare that I almost fainted.
The fact that this girl is now my [girlfriend] has a violent sweetness to it that soaks my brain.
“….Really?”
Saying that, Akiha raised her face.
“Do I really have a normal expression right now?”
The faltering look in her eyes as she looks at me reminds me of one verse from the Paul Auster novel, [Moon Palace], the novel I was reading just a moment ago.
一一一If you don’t set a certain point in the sky as a reference, you can’t accurately determine your position on this Earth.
一一一It is only in relation to the moon and the stars that one can know one’s position on earth.
“It’s true….”
“I hope so….”
Saying this in soliloquy, Akiha turned her face back. Then she moved her lips as if she was hesitating about something.
“……I want something”
“Something?”
“Since I…..and Yano-kun have…b-become lover….I want something…….that makes me feel like we have become一一lovers”
After being told, I think this might be a good idea.
We’ve been friends for a month and i have been waiting for a reply to our confession for a month.
Maybe it’s time to prepare something to make each other feel that you have moved on from there.
“……..what do you want? Like keychain, accessories…….or perhaps a pair ring?”
While saying this, I couldn’t help but laugh at the idea of a [high school couple].
I never thought I would be thinking about something cliched like that.
However Akiha shook her small neck and said,
“……it’s not like that”
“Then what is it?”
When I asked, the room was filled with silence.
A cheap electronic chime sounds from an old-fashioned speaker, and a trombone from the brass band imitates it with a long, dumb tone.
After a few dozen seconds of silence, Akinami stared ahead and said in a muffled voice,
“I want to kiss you…..”
*
“一一一Ah, we switched.”
On the way home, it was dyed with the setting color of the sun. In a corner of the street where people were coming and going.
Haruka raised her face and said in a childlike tone like a kid that found a ten yen coin on the roadside.
“…….oh, Yano-kun”
“Umm”
She smiled at me in front of her, then looked around and narrowed her eyes in happiness.
“Going home with Akiha again?”
“Yes, we were in clubroom a while ago”
“I see….you guy are really good friends”
Haruka said in a good mood and started walking down the road.
As she walked down the road一一I glanced at her.
My best friend, who shares a body with Akiha.
Despite her face and body that’s completely the same as Akiha, whether it’s her facial expressions or her gestures, the two of them give very different impressions even when walking next to each other.
Her light, yet somewhat dangerous gait and her hair swaying along with it.
The out-of-tune humming that could be heard.
Today too, Haruka was looking at the equally peaceful Nishiogi town with a peaceful face.
When I was next to her, for some reason, happiness spread lightly in my heart like watercolors.
“……..hmm”
Suddenly, Haruka’s expression changed as if she noticed something.
“….. what’s the matter?”
“Ah, umm…..”
“Did you forget something?”
“……n…..O, it’s not that, ehm Yano-kun……”
Saying so, Haruka’s tone faltered slightly. And for some reason, her cheeks flushed with embarrassment.
“一一一Did something happen to Akiha today?”
……..I was at loss for words here.
How did she know such things?
Speaking of which, both Akiha and Haruka seemed to be able to sense the changes that occurred in each other. Especially when it came to romance, they both had a strange intuition.
Perhaps it might be natural since she has a double personality but it seemed like a superpower to me, and it sometimes sent chills down my spine.
But this time, it’s not something to hide.
Rather, I want to convey this news first of all to her一一Haruka.
“Oh, actually…….”
After a small coughing fit, I looked away in slight embarrassment and began to speak.
“That, Akiha finally replied to my confession”
“Huh, Really?”
“Yes. So……w-we are going out”
“Whaaaaaaat!”
She shouted so loudly that the people around her looked back in surprise.
However she didn’t mind that and look at me with her shining golden star like eyes,
“Yeah, she waited me for a long time”
“That girl finally replied!”
“Ohh, I see, I see…..”
She just said that and nodded multiple times, grinning.
“Like, it was a long time, right? You waited for around one month. I really thought that you should just go out with him in the latter half of the month though……I’m glad. I’m glad you got your answer.”
“Umm, thank you.”
“I didn’t do anything to be thanked. It’s Yano-kun’s hard-fought Victory!…….but you know….”
And suddenly flashing a mischievous smile, she asked,
“……just that?”
She asked, peering into my face.
“Did it really only turn out to be you dating? Nothing else?”
“W-what do you mean…..”
“Hmm, for example”
Thereupon she conceal her voice and said in whisper,
“You’ve at least had a kiss, haven’t you?”
In her words一一一I couldn’t help but remember about the kiss with Akiha earlier.
一一一I grabbed her slender shoulder with my hands shivering from my nervousness.
一一一The vivacious feeling when our lips touch.
一一一Akiha’s flushed cheeks when we parted our faces.
I really thought that this was the first time in my life that I was so happy.
I really wished for this for this time to continue forever from the bottom of my heart.
And now I was even more conscious of the scene in front of me.
<<Part 2>>
Haruka shares the same body with Akiha.
And that I have kissed the same lips as this girl in front of me just a while ago.
一一一Then what comes to my mind was the event that happened a month ago.
The day I confessed to Akiha.
“I like you Yano-kun”
I was confessed to and then kissed just around the time of their personality to switch.
一一一I wonder if it was done by Akiha.
一一一Or was it done by Haruka.
I still don’t know.
After that day, the girls continued to act as if it never happened, and I have not been able to find any loose ends.
Nowadays, I think it’s natural to think of it as Akiha.
As a matter of fact, we have become lovers.
However, just in case…….what if it was Haruka.
If by some chance……What if it was this girl in front of me.
I am not sure with what kind of face I should meet with this girl.
“Seems like I have hit the bull’s eye, no?”
When I noticed, Haruka was looking at me with a somewhat elated smile. My heart took a skip seeing her face so close.
Her cream colored cheeks and peach colored lips.
I felt as if I was being watched through a telescope, as the probing eyes stared at me.
“Yano-kun is easy to understand, you know?”
“I-it can’t be helped……I’m still flustered after all”
“I see……but I’m glad, truly.”
Saying that, Haruka suddenly shifted her gaze to look up at the sky.
The darkening ultramarine and the orange clouds illuminated by the afterglow.
As she looked up at it in this distance,
“一一一I’m really really glad”
Says Haruka, particularly to no one.
一一一–Haruka that will disappear someday.
一一一–A second personality that is bound to disappear one day.
The time Haruka has been making such kinds of face is increasing lately, as if she’s thinking about something while gazing blankly somewhere.
Every time this happened, I repeatedly made a vow to myself.
Certainly, there are a lot of things I don’t understand. There are a lot of things I’m anxious about.
But still then,
一一一The days she have left.
一一一Time that hasn’t been left much.
一一一In that time, I want to make her happy, even if just a little.
*
4th June (Monday) Haruka
Yano-kun, Akiha.
I heard from Yano-kun!
Congratulations!!
Somehow, I’m as happy as if it was me.
I hope you have a lot of happiness in your life!
I also have to act more seriously.
I have been thinking about a lot of things lately.
About how I want to live and what I want to do.
I used to hide myself all the time, but now I’m suddenly able to do a lot of things, and I’m wondering what I should do.
So, I’m sure I’ll be lost, troubled, and worried a lot from now on…….
Please watch over me until the end.